Question: After Frank is essentially forced to abandon Brenda in order to avoid not getting caught at the airport he resumes his farce as a pilot and recruits young women as his accompanying stewardesses. Roughly how long does this thing with the stewardesses possibly last? Did he really risk to include them in his "trip" around the world to various countries to continue his fraud because obviously he abandoned them at some point and ended up in France where he was caught.
Answer: It lasts several months. The stewardesses were juniors and seniors from the University of Arizona, whom he fake-recruited for a PR project for Pan-Am (they were not supposed to be real stewardesses, but dress like them and be photographed in various European capitols). Frank was frequently being asked where his "crew" was, so he thought it would lend him credibility.
Question: I may have missed this, but why does Frank tear the labels off bottles?
Answer: He was taking the labels off the bottles to make fake checks, using the logos as this is the one thing that he could not create on the checks. The MICR printer was only used to print the routing and account numbers and the emboss the checks.
Answer: He does it so he will have things in his wallet. As he has no identity of his own and steals or creates others, filling his wallet with labels is fulfilling a subconscious desire to be normal and have an identity.
Question: Was the storyline with Brenda based on actual or similar events of the real Frank Jr's life, or was it just added to show that Frank could never commit to a relationship while he was on the run, whether he wanted to or not?
Answer: The character of Brenda was based loosely on a stewardess he dated for a short time and who encouraged him to become a lawyer (he told her he went to Harvard Law School). They were never engaged.
Question: I don't fully understand the Game Show part in the beginning. What was the significance of that?
Chosen answer: It's a recreation of when the real Frank Abagnale, Jr. appeared on the TV game show, "To Tell The Truth," that ran on CBS from the mid-1950s to late-1960s. A celebrity panel would try to pick out the genuine contestant who had an unusual secret from among two other imposters, who gave bluff answers to questions.
Question: In trivia for this film, it says that when Carl goes to arrest Frank in the hotel, he flashes his badge the wrong way. Spotted this myself thinking it was a mistake, but trivia says it was Intentional. Why did they have him flash the badge this way?
Answer: Carl's work is mostly done in his office. When in the field he'd usually just question people. This time he actually has to arrest the guy and the reversed-badge thing is meant to show how nervous he is.
Question: When Frank deadheads to Miami, he is shown in to the cockpit and has a short conversation with the pilot. It is pilot slang and I would like to know what they are going on about. Something like "Are you turning around on the red eye."
Answer: A 'red eye' flight is one that occurs during the night, from around midnight through to dawn - so named because reddish eyes are associated with sleepiness. The question is basically "are you going back as the late night flight?"
Question: Can anyone tell me which characters had fake names to protect the real people's identities, and tell me what their real names were?
Answer: Cal Hanratty (Tom Hanks) was not the FBI officer's real name. The name of the man who actually caught Frank was Joe Shea, and it is true that Joe and Frank remained friends throughout their lives.
Question: How did frank escape out of the airplane? Is it actually possible, especially in the amount of time he did it in?
Answer: He removed the toilet panel, then squeezed through next to the toilet. This allowed him access to the landing gear. He did not actually squeeze through the toilet itself, as you'll see he is not wet, nor is Carl after having dove in after Frank.
Question: Realistically what would happen when Cheryl cashed that check?
Answer: What happened in real life was the bank informed her a few days later that the check was counterfeit, and she called the local sheriff who called in the FBI agents investigating the case. It was part of his capture, as before her they were looking for someone considerably older.
Chosen answer: It is not mentioned, though it is likely Reagan (at the time Washington National) or Dulles, as they both work in Washington DC.
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